my heart, your hands
by LowkeyLyesmiths
Summary: Alaya Marie Primose Stark is born on a hot sunny day before Tony is Iron Man, her mother is just another girl and Tony honestly just wishes it had never happened. Five years later he gets the call the changes his life and now Tony just wants to see his damn kid smile and if that involves Loki, so be it.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **Yo yiggidy yo. Haven't been back here in a while cos i've been over at A03 (same name, look me up?) Anyway, this was written way before the Avengers movie came out so forgive any inconsistencies, it's AU, evidently and yeah, hope you enjoy ^_^

Reviews/Feedback is always appreciated and if you like it there's a sequel over at my Ao3. I will upload it here but I'm away for the next two weeks so I'm not sure when I'll get around to it so yeah, have fun :)

* * *

Alaya Marie Primrose Stark was born on a hot sunny day before Tony was Iron Man. Her mother's name is Mollie and Tony visits her when she's one day old. He holds her and she's cute but Tony's just wishing this never happen. To be honest, Tony's surprised it's taken this long for this to happen.

Thankfully Mollie agrees to raise their daughter if Tony just contributes financially and it's almost enough to make Tony propose to her right then out of gratitude. He knows it's wrong but Tony knows he'd make a worse dad then his own so it's probably better this way. He gets Pepper to organise a bank account for the kid and ignores her look of complete disgust and that's that.

* * *

Tony gets the call five years later.

He's older and wiser and he has a hunk of metal in his chest keeping him alive. It's been over two years since Loki tried to destroy the Earth the first time, almost a year and a half since Loki escaped their custody and over a year since super villains started popping up left right and center. Tony's alone at the mansion when he gets the call; Pepper's honeymooning with her new boyfriend, Thor's visiting Asgard, Clint and Natasha are double dating with Steve and whatever homely girl he's madly in love with this month and god knows where Bruce is.

"Hello, is that Mr Tony Stark?"

"Yep."

"Mr Stark this is Doctor Marie Olsen down at Saint Anne's hospital, I have your daughter here and we'd really like to talk to you."

Tony's first thought is what daughter? But then he remembers and something in his gut clenches and twists painfully. "Sorry," he says. "This is just-Uh; can I ask why she's there?"

The doctor sighs, "There's no easy way to say this, Mr Stark but she has several unusual bruises and injuries on her and-"

Well, fuck. Whatever else is said is lost to Tony because all he hears is white noise and the words 'unusual bruises' chase each other around his head. "I'll be right there," he says dryly.

When he gets there Doctor Olsen greets him and says, "Pleased to meet you Mr Stark." Mollie is hovering nervously beside her and she looks the same as the day Tony met her, holding her arm is a big guy, her boyfriend, he guesses. He glances at their hands, wedding rings, husband then.

The words "unusual bruises" are back and Tony's almost shaking with the effort not to take this guy apart. It's crazy, Tony thinks, that he's this protective over someone he hasn't seen in five years but he's a different man now, a better one.

The doctor is talking again and introduces a guy from social services but Tony can't concentrate because one of those disgusting human beings hurt his daughter. Tony wants to scream at them but he doesn't trust himself to open his mouth right now and he wonders if people would think badly of Iron Man if he beat this guy to death.

"Can I see her?" Tony asks abruptly. "Can I see Alaya?"

The guy from social services- Sean he thinks- looks thrown and he says, "Uh, sure. We just have a few things we need to clarify first, okay Mr Stark?"

Tony nods impatiently and Maybe-Sean continues, "Now, Mollie tells us that you've had no contact with your daughter since she was born, is that correct?"

Tony feels awful when he nods and Maybe-Sean gives him a disappointed look so he says, weakly. "I was younger then, I was different then."

Maybe-Sean doesn't look any less disgusted but he continues, "Under most circumstances we wouldn't have contacted you but foster care is a nightmare right now so I need to know right now if you're planning to step up and be a parent to that little girl."

"Yes," Tony says immediately. "Yes, of course."

This seems to satisfy Maybe-Sean and he opens his mouth to speak but Mollie interrupts. "What, that's it?" she asks. "That's it!? He walks in here with his flashy suit and you just give away my little girl? He doesn't even know her!" she cries shrilly.

Tony snaps. "I may not know her but I would never ever hit a kid. How could you!?"

Her blue eyes go wide and she stammers, "I-I...You don't know what she's like, she isn't normal..."

"Be quiet Mrs Grayson," Maybe-Sean growls and gives Tony what he thinks is supposed to be smile (he twists his lip funnily) and says, "Of course."

He leads Tony down the corridor and shows Tony her medical files as they walk. Bruises, scrapes, broken arm. There's nothing too serious and Tony's insanely glad.

Alaya is sitting on the bed in a private room, she's clutching a cuddly T-rex to her chest and when Tony enters the room she frowns. "You're Iron Man."

Tony's pretty sure she's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. Her eyes are huge and deep blue and her hair is brown and faintly curled. He's never been good with kids but he bends down and says in the kindest voice he can manage, "Yeah, I am. But I'm also your dad."

She scrunches up her nose and it's adorable. "I know," she says flippantly, avoiding his eye. "I used to tell mommy's boyfriend that. I said, my daddy's Iron Man he'll beat you up if you hurt me."

Tony's heart breaks a little.

She squeezes the T-rex, "This is Chiron. Have you come to take me home now?"

Maybe-Sean makes him sign some stuff and tells him he'll be visiting them regularly for a while to check how they're getting on and that he'll bring by Allie's stuff the next day. Tony thinks the foster care system must be pretty awful because they're letting him take her home without seeing her once, then again, he is Iron Man. Alaya doesn't seem to mind that Tony's taking her home and that worries him more than anything.

It's only when he gets back to the Avenger's mansion and gets her tucked up with her T-rex that he realises what's really happening. He wants to run back to the hospital and say "I can't do it! Take her back!" he wants to go back in time and ignore that phone call.

He calls Pepper.

"Tony, for god's sake! I told you not to bother me! It's only been two days," she cries when she picks up (but she does pick up).

"Pep, I need help," he says trying desperately to keep his voice steady.

"Oh my god, Tony, what's wrong?"

Obviously he didn't keep his voice steady enough.

"I...Remember Alaya?"

"Your daughter? Of course I do, Tony. Has something happened to her?" she asks sounding terrified.

"She's okay, well, she's okay now." he says before taking a deep breath and telling her everything.

* * *

Pepper flies back the next day and helps Tony get through the interviews and put Allie's room together. They tell the other Avengers to stay away for the day and they do nodding sympathetically. Allie seems to have a thing for dinosaurs so Tony downloads every film he can think of with them in and after they finish Allie's room they settle down to watch Jurassic Park which Allie hasn't seen. (Tony's pretty sure that alone counts as bad parenting).

"You know," Allie says absentmindedly stroking her toy triceratops. "Velociraptors had feathers and they weren't that big."

"Really?" Pepper says, smiling at her. "That's really interesting, Allie. You must be pretty clever to know that."

Allie pays about as much attention to Pepper as she does to Tony and Pepper shoots him a worried look. Later when she's been tucked in (she falls asleep instantly) Pepper puts a hand on his shoulder and says, "It'll be okay, she'll warm up to you soon. She's been through a lot."

Tony nods numbly and brushes Allie's hair back from her forehead. God he'd fucked this up.

They introduce Allie to the other Avengers the next day and Tony's hoping that one of them will be able to get through to her.

Steve's all smiles and natural kid skills and Allie just stares at him. Thor's the same except this time Allie frowns and asks, "Where are you from?"

"Asgard, little Stark," Thor booms smiling.

"Do they have dinosaurs on Asgard?"

Thor looks blank, "No but..."

Allie turns away and looks at Tony as if to say, bored, next! Natasha and Clint both look terrified of Allie and Tony's sort of glad. He's not sure world class assassins are the best role models for kids. Oddly Allie seems to get on well with Bruce, mostly because he's willing to tell her all he knows about dinosaurs, which turns out to be quite a lot.

"I was a dino-freak when I was a kid," Bruce says smiling weakly. Tony's a little wary about leaving Allie with Bruce but Pepper talks him in to it if only to let him get a little break.

After a week they've fallen in to an uneasy routine, Allie calls him daddy and talks a little more and they watch a film together every night and more often than not Steve and Thor join them. Pepper takes her to school because Iron Man or not Tony still has a company to run. Pepper also baby sits when Doom decides to attack the city two weeks later and when Tony returns in his Iron Man suit he thinks he sees Allie smile (just a bit). But apart from that she's the same as she was the first night he met her.

Pepper takes him aside one day, mouth a tight worried line. "Tony, I know you'll hate me for saying this but do you ever think Allie might have Asperger's or something?"  
Tony Stark has many catalogued responses for many, many things but he has no idea what to say to that. Pepper pulls him into a hug. "Just think about it, okay?"

Tony watches as Allie plays dinosaurs with Bruce.

("No, Bruce, they can't hunt Diplodocus! They lived in completely different eras!")

Tony smiles, "Yeah, Bruce. _God_."

Allie almost but not quite smiles and Bruce chuckles, "Sorry, Allie."

And Tony decides that he doesn't care if Allie has Asperger's, she's fine as is. She seems content but content isn't enough. He wants her happy. He just wishes he could get her to smile, just once because he's pretty sure that's all he needs to do.

* * *

He has a breakthrough with Allie three months after she starts living with him. Well, he says he, in reality it was someone else who had the breakthrough. Tony sort of just watched.

They're huddled on the couch with Steve and Thor watching Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Tony's thinks it's awful, Allie spends most of it telling Tony about how unrealistic the whole thing is but Tony can tell she really likes it and Steve and Thor watch with open mouths (they're still not used to modern technology.  
They're in the last few tense minutes of the film when the alert goes off.

Doom had teamed up with Nebula and Magneto and his Brotherhood and they were planning something big. Pepper was in England so Tony had to stay behind with Allie.  
At almost midnight the other Avengers have still not returned and Tony is getting seriously worried. Fury had ordered radio silence, something to do with one of the Brotherhood being able to hack into their comms, so Tony has no idea what's going on.

At 10 past midnight Steve breaks radio silence and contacts Tony.

"Tony? Tony-shit! Tony, we really need you here!"

The radio goes dead and Tony's halfway to his suit before he stops. Allie.

Steve had sounded so desperate, so scared. He's never heard Steve sound anything like that. Steve wouldn't pull him away from Allie unless it was really necessary. The mansion is possibly the safest place in the US and Allie's asleep. She won't know, she won't know...  
Against his better judgement Tony gets in to his suit and flies off to save his friends.

* * *

It takes them four hours to take down Doom and Magneto, Nebula and most of the Brotherhood get away. Clint is half dead, Bruce is exhausted and Steve's leg is probably broken but they're all alive.

As soon as Doom hits the ground Tony is gone because Allie.

She's been alone. For four hours. He'd told JARVIS to contact him if anything went badly wrong and the machine hadn't said anything but still...  
When he gets back to the mansion he makes beeline for Allie's room but he pauses outside the door because he hears laughter. Allie's laughter. He closes his eyes, Pepper must have come back. It's the only explanation.

He bursts through the door.

"Loki?"

The trickster is lying on his stomach, making Allie's little plastic dinosaurs move. He turns when Tony comes in, "Really, Stark. I knew you weren't the most responsible human being but leaving a child alone?"

Allie nods, "Yeah, Daddy!" and she smiles.

She actually smiles.

She. Actually. Smiles.

Tony sways and smiles back. "I'm sorry baby, I had to go stop the bad guys and save the city."

Her eyes widen a fraction. "Loki was telling me. He said your other friends were losing and that's why you had to leave. Did you really save them all?" she actually looks excited.

It's so ridiculous Tony laughs, "Yeah, yeah I did, Allie."

"Awesome!"

This time Loki laughs, "Okay now, remember what we agreed? You could stay up till your daddy got home."

Tony's pretty sure this is the most surreal thing he's ever experienced and he's done some pretty weird things in his life. Allie pouts and looks at Tony, "Da-ad do I have to?"

"Uh.."

"Stark, it's 4am, she's five. Of course she's going to bed." Loki says and he sounds so fucking domestic it's hilarious.

"Sweetie, listen to your mother." Tony says without thinking it through.

Allie giggles and clambers in to bed and Loki looks like he's about ready to bite Tony's head off. "Daddy, can Loki come over again soon? He was fun." She says as Tony kisses her on the forehead.

Tony looks at Loki who's smirking.

"We'll talk about, Allie."

She looks at Loki who grins and then she smiles. "Okay, daddy. Love you."

If Loki hadn't been there Tony would have broken down in tears. He bites his lip. "Love you too, Allie."

"Night Loki!"

"Goodnight, Alaya."

Tony grabs Loki's arm and forcefully manoeuvres him out of Allie's room. The Norse god is still smiling as Tony rounds on him angrily, "WHAT THE HELL, LOKI?" there were more things he wanted to say but his brain is doing cartwheels right now so it'll have to do.

Loki shrugs, "Doom wanted me to break in here and steal some of your technology but your daughter interrupted me." he says, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"So what? You stayed to play with her? You son of a bitch if you had touched a hair on her head I would have-" Tony starts.

Loki cuts him off, green eyes flashing angrily. "You think I would ever harm a child?! You insolent fool! What would you have had me do? Continue with my robbery and leave your five year old daughter alone in this mansion?! You truly are an idiot, Stark."

Tony glares at him but godammit he got Allie to smile. And laugh. And act like a kid. He sighs. "Look I'm sorry for snapping at you."

Loki scoffs, "I'm sorry, Doom must have given you a concussion or something. Shall I come back when you're feeling yourself again?"

Tony ignores him, "Thanks for looking after her. Truth be told she actually looked a lot happier than I've ever seen her, which is saying something."

Loki actually looks sympathetic. "Did you ever try just talking to her, Stark? Or actually playing with her? She's-" Loki stops suddenly and cocks his head as though listening to something Tony can't hear. "My brother and your teammates have returned. I shall take my leave."

Tony wants to ask him to stay but this is Loki. So instead he says, "So Allie seemed to really like you, so, uh, you know, maybe you could, I don't know, you know? Come over some time?"

Loki smiles, full on smiles and Tony finds himself struck by how nice it looks on him. "Your eloquence, Stark never fails to surprise me. Of course I will, besides it's not like you could stop me."

Tony gapes and Loki chuckles, "Don't gape, Anthony. It's most unbecoming." And with that he vanishes.

Tony's still staring at the spot Loki had been when Bruce comes into the corridor behind him. "Were you talking to yourself, Tony?" the scientist asks softly, blinking tiredly.

Bruce looks like Tony feels. "No, I was, uh, talking to Loki. He came to rob us but he ended up watching Allie. Who knew Loki was good with kids? And I think I might have invited him over again."

Bruce chuckles and Tony feels like he's missing something. "What?"

"You've been living with a Norse God for over a year and you still haven't read up on their mythology?"

Tony crosses his arms. "It's on my to-do list."

"Well if you had you'd know about Loki's kids."

"He breeds? Oh dear God."

Bruce ignores him. "Do some research, Tony. It might enlighten you a little."

Bruce heads into his bedroom and Tony mutters, "I am plenty enlightened, Banner." But he makes a mental note to research Loki's kids the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

Since that first meeting Loki has become a constant figure in Tony's life, even though when Tony usually sees him he's blowing shit up and throwing them in to walls.

It starts as small things like that one time Tony went up to read Allie a bed time story (yeah, he does that now) and her saying, "Oh, it's okay daddy. Loki already read me one." Then it gets to bigger things like Tony opening Allie's wardrobe to find a completely new selection of clothes ("Loki took me shopping in Paris!")

And it's not that Tony isn't glad that Loki makes Allie so happy it's just that it's pretty fucking creepy to go upstairs and find your daughter's toy dinosaurs parading around her room ("Loki charmed them.") or to find a book of Norse fairy stories on her bedside table (okay so Tony doesn't mind that so much because it's pretty funny reading about Thor being dressed up in drag) he skips the ones about Loki's children though because he Allie doesn't need to know about that.

Tony read up about them the day after Loki's first visit and he thinks he understands why Loki's so angry with the other Norse Gods. Tony can't comprehend Allie being taken away from him just because she was different. That being said Allie is a human; Loki had a horse, a wolf and a serpent but still. Even his 'normal' kids hadn't been spared. When Tony had read about what happened to Vali and Narfi his stomach had started to churn.

He hasn't told any of the other Avengers, of course. He thinks it'd be a little difficult to explain that Thor's batshit baby brother and their number one enemy babysits his daughter occasionally. He thinks Bruce knows though and Pepper suspects something but she'd never consider that Loki was Allie's secret babysitter. That's just insane, right?

He's told Allie Loki's their little secret and Tony finds it vaguely amusing because it makes Loki sound like he's the Easter Bunny or the tooth fairy (now there's an image.)

Allie's much happier now though. She smiles and laughs and runs around and lets Thor give her piggy backs and Steve teach her how to swim and Tony's even caught Allie and Natasha talking and laughing together (not that Natasha would ever admit to that and Stark, I swear to god if you tell anyone.)

But Tony can't shake the terrified feeling he gets when he's with her because oh my God I'm a Dad. He worries constantly but most often he worries about what would have happened if Loki hadn't been there. If Loki hadn't fixed her.

Tony really wants to thank Loki but the problem with that is that he only sees the trickster when they're thwarting his latest evil scheme. So for a few months the only thanks he gives Loki is shooting him at half-strength (a setting he invented just for this).

"Daddy if you want to talk to him so badly why don't you write him a letter?" Allie asks one night during their hundredth rewatch of Jurassic Park (they're at the bit where the blonde chick finds Samuel L Jackson's arm. Tony thinks he looks a lot like Fury but Allie doesn't (he's got two eyes, Daddy!).

Tony looks at her and tries to think of a reason why that wouldn't work and Bruce (who Allie talked in to joining them tonight) smirks. "Uh... I suppose I could do that."

Allie smiles, "Write them in green. Loki likes green."

Tony sits down that night and tries to write a letter. He's never been good with words where they really count; sarcasm he can do, flirting? Check. Gratitude? Nope. Never been good at it. And how are you supposed to thank someone for making your kid smile anyway?

He stares at the blank page till he literally can't keep his eyes open and scribbles a short message before he crawls in to bed and dreams about green eyes and mischievous grins.

Loki,  
I'm not good at this so I just wanna say thanks for helping my kid be happy. Keep it up.  
T. Stark

He groans when he reads it the next day and hands it to Allie in a sealed envelope before he can change his mind. Allie smiles when she takes it and Pepper, who's arrived to take her to school, raises an eyebrow at him.

"Father-daughter stuff, Pep." He says and Allie giggles and takes Pepper's hand.

They walk off and Tony half wants to run after them and grab the letter back but he hears Allie telling Pepper that "Pepper Potts is a stupid name." And he decides that he'd rather not be assaulted by Pepper this early in the morning so he hightails it back in to the Mansion to improve the security settings. (He's also insanely proud of Allie)

He has a convention to appear at in France that weekend and Tony's told everyone that Allie's staying with her maternal grandparents but Allie had begged him to let her spend the weekend with Loki. Normally Tony would never ever leave his daughter with a super villain but when said daughter is a secret genius and has great puppy dog eyes it's hard to say no.

He hugs her extra tight before he leaves and whispers, "You better be careful, okay?"

She rolls her eyes, "I will, daddy."

He can't concentrate on anything anyone says and Pepper does most of the talking. Halfway through it Justin Hammer decides to make a half hearted attempt on Tony's life but that's about it.

When he gets back it's late and Allie's in bed apparently Bruce had picked her up from 'Grandma's.' He tries not to picture Loki as a grandmother in his head as he heads up to Allie's room. When he opens the door Allie springs out of bed and runs at him squealing, "DADDY! Loki took me to a theme park and they had a whole ride with dinosaurs!"

When he finally gets Allie back to bed she hands him an envelope, "Loki said to give you this, daddy."

The envelope contains a note that says in elegant, curly writing 'You're welcome Stark' and photos of Allie at the theme park (mostly with dinosaurs). But there's one photo that Tony thinks Allie must have taken because she's smiling widely at the camera and beside her, looking away, smiling shyly is Loki. Obviously he doesn't look like Loki because Tony's pretty sure a super villain visiting an amusement park would be frowned upon. His hair is lighter and curled and he's wearing a leather jacket and jeans. It sort of suits him.

It goes on like this for a while; Tony will give Allie a letter thanking Loki for whatever lavishly expensive gift she's come back with (or mocking Loki if it's a particularly, ahem, manly trip, like Disneyland, Loki in Disneyland, unfortunately Allie didn't have any photos of that.) And Loki will occasionally write back. Tony tells Loki about Thor's antics and Loki pokes fun at the other super villains. It's like having a pen pal. An insane, homicidal pen pal that just so happens to babysit your kid. Tony tries not to think about that too much though.

Sometimes though he'll look at Allie and wonder why she isn't scared of Loki. He's been on TV enough destroying buildings and maiming people, she's seen the news shows, she's heard the other Avengers talking about him, she knows they fight him. She must know. But then again she's only 5.

But 5 is so big.

Sometimes he thinks she did it deliberately, made friends with the super villain just to irritate him; it's the kind of think he would have done. But then again for all her stubbornness and occasional tantrums (she is a Stark after all) Allie seems like such a sweet kid.

It's Allie's birthday when he finally sees Loki face to face (outside of Avenging, of course).  
Allie's birthday was on a Sunday so of course Tony made it a whole weekend thing. Friday they went to the fanciest of fancy restaurants with Pepper and Allie pranced about in a pretty dress that Loki bought her ("from Milan, Daddy!") Neither of them really do fancy food though so while Pepper apologises to the restaurant owners Tony and Allie get fish'n'chips. Saturday Tony, Steve, Clint and Thor took her to the biggest dinosaur themed theme park Tony could find and then (for kicks) he flew her to Japan because she's started to get in to anime. Sunday morning they have a party for Allie's friends from school and Tony's vaguely disgusted that there's not even a card from Allie's mum but Allie has a great time (and so does Natasha, secretly but if Tony says that she'll beat Tony to death with his own legs).

Now they're curled up in Tony's Malibu mansion watching Jurassic Park yet again, Tony knows the words now, to all three, which is pretty sad but it's Allie's birthday and if she wants to watch a bunch of dinosaurs run rampage and eat people then who is he to say no?

They're just getting to the part where the douche bag lawyer who abandons the screaming kids gets chewed on by the T-Rex (it's Allie's favourite) when he hears the door behind them swing open. JARVIS hasn't said anything so Tony immediately leaps up, battle ready.

Allie leaps up too but she's not scared, she's excited. "LOOOOKIIIIIII!" she squeals running straight into the trickster's arms. He catches her and swings her up into a hug, laughing. It's sort of adorable in a really, really fucked up way.

"You came!" Allie cries, "I didn't think you would..."

"Of course I came! I wouldn't miss your birthday for anything, I told you that." Loki says, setting her down.

Allie smiles up at him in a way that clearly says 'Present?' and Loki grins. Tony's worried because that grin is the same one Loki uses when he's failing yet again to annihilate humanity. Loki laughs and snaps his fingers and Tony sees a green tail and for one horrified minute he's convinced Loki is giving Allie a dinosaur.

It's not though; it's a winged lizard, like on that British program Allie watches where the dinosaurs come through shiny orange thingies. Allie screeches,"OH MY GOD! It's Rex!"

The lizard cheeps and settles on Allie's shoulder and Tony clears his throat. Allie looks at him guiltily, "We can keep him right, Daddy?"

Tony wants to say no because he's pretty sure extinct lizards are on the banned pets list or something but Loki is watching him carefully and Allie's using the puppy dog eyes Steve taught her so Tony huffs. "Fine, but you better not let him escape. And you're feeding him. Wait, what do extinct lizards even eat?"

Loki shrugs and Allie giggles, "Insects probably."

There's an awkward pause and Allie turns to Tony and says, "Can Loki stay, Daddy, and watch the next two films with us?"

Loki's eyes widen a fraction and he laughs, "No, Allie, I've really got to be going-"

Tony smirks, "Oh come on, Loki. Surely you wouldn't upset my little girl on her birthday." He's not sure why he says it; the last thing he wants to do is watch movies with a guy whose hobbies include genocide but Allie loves him and Loki looks like he wants to claw Tony's face off so it's a win-win thing. Sort of.

Allie smiles and leads Loki over to the couch and Tony pours himself a drink as the Norse god mouths 'I will kill you, Stark!' Tony laughs and pours himself another scotch.

It's not until the movie ends that Tony realises he's drunk a little too much because when he stands up the world pirouettes around him. "Whoa," he says, swaying and Loki raises an eyebrow at him.

"Are you feeling okay, Stark?"

Tony's about to answer when Allie springs up from the couch where she had been dozing and says, "Next movie! Next movie!"

Loki frowns at her, "Aren't you tired, Allie?"

She yawns, "Nope."

"I think you are," Loki laughs. "Maybe you can watch the other two in the morning?"

"Oh, let her stay up," Tony slurs and Loki glares at him. "It's her birthday for chrissakes."

"Fine, one more, Allie, okay?"

Allie nods and slides off the couch to change the DVD and as the film starts Tony finds himself transfixed by Loki's hands. They're so long and perfectly formed and elegant and Loki uses them a lot when he's talking. It's when he catches himself almost drooling as Loki runs his long fingers through his dark hair that he decides he's had far too much to drink. They're just hands, Stark, he reminds himself.

But they're pretty awesome as far as hands go.

This time when the film ends Allie is snoring and Loki scoops her up. "You're not fit to carry a child," he explains.

Tony doesn't argue, "Her room is this way."

Allie's room here is smaller than the one at Avengers mansion but if possible it contains more dinosaurs. Rex perches on the headboard on her bed as Loki tucks her in a kisses her on the forehead tenderly. He turns and Tony realises that he's about to leave and Tony hasn't even thanked him yet.

"Wait, I need to talk to you," he blurts and Loki pauses. He looks at Tony for a long time before nodding and leaving the room.

"Daddy," Allie mumbles sleepily. "Why can't Loki live here forever?"

He looks at her and sighs. "You know why, baby."

When he gets back in to the living room he's slightly surprised to find Loki hovering awkwardly there. Loki looks up and Tony's suddenly got stage fright. He pours himself another drink and Loki looks like he wants to tell Tony not to but he doesn't so Tony does it anyway. He downs it one and sits down on the couch.

"You're-You're..." he says looking up at Loki. There's a world of things he wants to say but eloquence fails him so he just mumbles. "Thanks for being there for Allie. I know I suck at being a dad so you know thanks."

Loki looks slightly taken aback and he squirms slightly. "Uh...you're welcome."

Tony nods and puts his head in his hands because its times like this that the reality of his situation sets in and it's so damn big. He hears Loki sigh and feels him sit on the couch beside him. "You're not a bad father, Stark." He says quietly.

Tony snorts. "You're kidding, right? It took a super villain to even get my kid to smile. Plus there's the fact that I didn't even get involved in her life until her mom..." his throat closes a little because he still can't say it. Can't quite believe it.

Loki laughs hollowly and it sounds almost like a sob, "Your daughter is happy and alive and with you. She loves you, she knows you, you saved her. My kids..."

Tony looks up and Loki's looking determinedly at the floor, jaw clenched and Tony realises how green Loki's eyes actually are. Then he thinks that this possibly more mental than Loki babysitting Allie; he's sitting on a couch almost crying next to an also almost crying super villain. Tony's allergic to emotions so immediately he starts to think of a way out.  
If this was a girl Tony would kiss her but it's not a girl it's Loki but Loki's tracing the swirly patterns in the couch with those amazing hands and hell, Tony's never worried about gender too much before. Loki's pretty much Allie's second parent by this point anyway and aren't mommies and daddies supposed to this?

Later he'll blame it on the alcohol.

He leans forwards and crashes their mouths together, fully expecting to be pushed away. He was not in any way expecting the soft noise of surprise and Loki fucking melting in to the kiss.

When he pulls away Loki looks dazed, like he's just been hit by a train or something. Tony wants to take Loki apart and he's pretty sure Loki would let him. But Loki is a bad guy and Loki is Thor's little brother and Loki is supposedly batshit and Tony's not exactly one for following the rules but this might be too far.

"You should leave." The words tumble from his lips before he can really think them through and Loki vanishes.

Life gets back to normal...well normal for them. Allie still goes off with Loki but Tony never sees him. There's a lull in super villain activity and Fury thinks they're planning something big so he wants them to all be ready but being cooped up all day with each other isn't doing much for their team bond and even Allie's getting snappy.

It's been three months since Tony's seen Loki and Allie's being such a brat he's called in Bruce as reinforcement and they're trying desperately to get her to bed.

"Daddy, no! I don't want to sleep!" she screeches for the thousandth time.

Tony's about to snap when Loki materialises by the window. He's panting and gods, he looks like shit. His usually immaculate hair is messy, his clothes are torn and rumpled, his lip is bloody and there's a dark purple bruise spreading across Loki's left cheek and eye to the bridge of his nose. His eyes are slightly glazed.

"Doom was...Doom was," he stammers, "Doom wants to kidnap Allie."

Then he crumples.


	3. Chapter 3

When Loki falls Tony's brain ceases all logical thought and proceeds to freak the fuck out. Allie's crying and Tony's frozen. Loki's hurt. Loki's hurt badly. And oh, he's going to have such explaining to do and how is he supposed to do that? And Fury's going to be, well, furious and Tony is going into melt down mode.

Bruce, however, is calm. He drops the book he's holding and knells down beside the fallen god. He looks him up and down and picks him up easily as he'd pick up Allie. "Tony we have to get him to the med lab, now." he says.

Tony's terrified by this point because Loki is a god. A god. He shouldn't be this badly injured; his magic should have healed him by now. He scoops Allie up and follows Bruce out of the room. Allie's shaking, her tiny fists gripping Tony's shirt front so hard he's worried she'll tear it.

"What's wrong with Loki, Daddy?"

"He'll be fine, Allie." Tony says distractedly.

"Promise," she's whispering. "Promise he'll be fine."

Tony doesn't reply because he's too busy trying to keep up with Bruce and trying not to drop Allie. He's also silently preying that they don't run in to any of the other Avengers so he doesn't have to-

They round a corner and Clint's just coming out of the TV room. "Whoa, what the hell?"

Tony stops and stammers and Bruce rolls his eyes, "Clint, get everyone here down to the med lab and don't fucking call Fury."

"How do you do that?" Tony asks as they reach the med lab and Bruce lays Loki carefully down on a bed. Allie's still clinging to him.

Bruce looks up at him briefly. "Do what?"

"Stay so fucking calm all the time?"

Bruce flashes him a grin and goes back to examining Loki's injuries.

"Daddy will he be okay?" Allie asks once again.

Tony splutters because fuck there's a lot of blood and Bruce saves the day once again. He looks up and smiles, "He'll be fine, Allie. He's a god, right? You know Gods can't die."

Allie's grip doesn't let up but she relaxes a bit and Tony doesn't have time to ask if Loki really will be okay because suddenly Thor's crashing through the room like a fucking freight train and Tony and Allie narrowly avoid being flattened.

"What happened!?" Thor demands and the fury in his voice makes even Bruce 'Mr Calm' Banner pale a little. "WHO DID THIS TO MY BROTHER?" he booms and Tony's pretty sure he just made the whole mansion shake.

Steve, Clint and Natasha are peering in to the room nervously, Tony's brain has malfunctioned and Bruce is trying to staunch Loki's bleed. So Allie answers, "Doctor Doom..."

It hits Tony then that Loki could very well be dying because he was trying to protect Allie. Loki, who's made it his life goal to destroy Earth and everything the Avengers stand for, Loki who wanted to enslave humanity and likes throwing them in to buildings, stood up to Doom to protect Allie. Tony's not stupid, he knew Loki cared about Allie just not that much. He looks down at Loki, pale and small on the bed with Bruce and Thor bent over him and wonders what would have happened if he hadn't told Loki to leave that night.

What if.

He's jerked out of his thoughts by Bruce saying, "You should probably wait outside," he looks pointedly at Allie and Tony nods, ignoring Allie's mumbled protests. Thor glances at him briefly as he leaves and...Well, Tony's never been scared of Thor; the guys basically a bigger, stronger, less-with-it Steve but the look he sees in Thor's eyes makes him pity Doom. Well, almost.

When he steps out of the room shakily Steve, Clint and Natasha are standing there expectantly. "So..." Clint says, arms crossed.

Tony's tired, too tired to deal with this right now so he says, "I let Loki babysit Allie sometimes, okay?"

Clint's jaw just about hits the floor, Steve's eyebrows vanish in to his hair and Natasha looks unfazed. "So why is he here, now?" she asks calmly.

Clint gapes at her, "How are you not freaking out?"

She gives him one of her 'ergh, you people' looks and says, "Allie lives with a super soldier, two world class assassins, a guy who turns green when he's mad and a Norse god, adding super villain to the mix isn't that much of a stretch, Clint. Besides, it's only Loki."

"Only Loki?" Clint repeats incredulously.

Natasha rolls her eyes, "Oh, come on, he's just a glorified kid with daddy issues. You can't tell me neither of you noticed anything?" She shakes her head and turns back to Tony. "So why is he here?"

Tony's still trying to work out how Natasha worked it out so Allie answers for him again, "Doom did it. Doom wanted to..." she squeaks and buries her face in Tony's shoulder and Tony's grip tightens on her.

"Doom wants to kidnap Allie. I think he tried to stop him or talk him out of it but he's hurt pretty bad," Tony says watching as Clint and Steve's eyes narrow in anger. Allie's their family too. "We can't tell Fury. I don't want him locked up again."

"Fury will find out eventually, Tony," Natasha says softly. Tony knows.

"Do you think Doom's still going to try and take her?" Clint asks quietly.

Allie doesn't say anything but she presses herself closer to Tony and Tony thinks about hitting Clint. He doesn't, Natasha does. "I don't know."

They sit outside the med lab in silence, it's only when Allie starts uni that Steve speaks up, "Maybe she should go to bed, Tony." He says gently.

Tony looks down at her and she blinks her big blue eyes and mumbles sleepily, "No, daddy I wanna stay up." Tony knows he should put her bed but his eyes wander to closed med room door.

"I'll take her," Steve says and before Tony can protest Steve's taking the sleepy child from his arms and for once Allie doesn't protest. Instead she balls a fist in Steve's top and presses herself close to him.

"Don't let Doom take me, Cap." She says in a tiny voice that breaks Tony's heart.

Steve swallows. "Of course not, Allie." He turns to Tony. "I'll stay with her until you're done here, okay?"

Tony nods and Clint pats him awkwardly on the shoulder and Tony thinks about how fucked up this is. They're acting like a family and it's taken this for Tony to realise it. It's taken this to realise Allie might be in danger.

"What the fuck am I doing?" he mumbles. He's half in love (did he just think that?) with a villain, a non-human villain, he's raising a daughter with a bunch of super hero misfits and he's not entirely sure how he got here.

"It'll be okay," Clint says awkwardly. Tony hadn't realised he was talking out loud and he looks up to see Natasha looking like she'd rather be happier fighting off a world domination attempt (which let's face it, she probably would be.)

They're saved from the awkwardness by Bruce coming out of the med lab. Tony stands up immediately, Bruce looks exhausted. "He'll be okay," he croaks and Tony tries to decide how much joy it's socially acceptable to show.

"Can I see him?" he asks immediately.

"Tony, this is the first time Thor's seen his brother properly for years." Bruce says quietly. Tony wants to protest, to say "But I'm-" then he stops. Because what is he to Loki? "What about Doom?" he mutters.

Bruce looks sympathetic but he says, "Tony, he's just woken up. Doom's not going to attack right this instant." He smiles wryly, "Loki says he'll have a hard time doing much of anything with all his minions and 'bots turned in to kittens. The spell won't last forever though."

Tony rubs his eyes tiredly. "So what now?"

"Now I suggest we all get some sleep," Natasha says. "We can worry about all this when we're actually functioning."

No one disagrees so Tony heads up to Allie's room; he knows Steve won't let anything happen to her but still. When he pushes the door open as quietly as possible he finds Steve snoring loudly in the dinosaur-shaped couch Pepper bought Allie. His daughter is curled around Rex, fast asleep. He presses a kiss to her forehead and settles down in the armchair beside her bed.

Sleep doesn't come easily and Tony thinks about heading down to the lab to try and double the security around the mansion but he doesn't want to leave Allie so instead he over analysis's every conversation he's ever had with Thor's little brother. He comes to the conclusion that he wishes he'd done everything differently.

The next day Fury sends Natasha and Clint to Europe to take out a few Hydra bases that have started popping up and Cap to DC to stop a small villain base from getting any bigger. Tony thinks he probably knows that Loki is currently in their med bay but if he does he doesn't mention it. Bruce is occupying himself trying to learn everything he can from Thor about Jotun/Asgardian physiology and Allie, for once, doesn't protest when Pepper arrives to look after her in case Tony needs to run off after Doom. She should be in school but Tony's not going to risk it.

"Don't let Loki die, okay?" she says to Tony as Pepper readies the movie. Tony promises not to and wonders if Allie actually knows what dying means and if Loki can really die. Pepper, to her credit, doesn't ask too many questions.

"My brother's healing capabilities are tied to his magic," he hears Thor say to Jane who arrived at the mansion earlier that day and made it her mission to remind Thor to eat. "If Doom has somehow compromised his powers-"

Jane cuts him off with a gentle touch, "He'll be okay, Thor. He's in good hands."

Thor doesn't look convinced and sends Tony down to the med bay while Jane makes him lunch. Bruce has fallen asleep slumped over his desk and Loki looks very small without his armour on. His body is a patchwork of bandages and angry black-purple bruises and he's surrounded by wires and beeping machines that Tony would recognise if he wasn't so focussed on trying not to panic.

Loki's green eyes flicker open, dull and unfocused. "Stark?" he rasps.

Tony's not sure what to say so he settles for, "Yeah, hey, Loki."

Loki blinks and looks around. "Where's-Where's my brother?" he asks, sounding very, very young.

Tony takes a deep breath as a wave of sympathy and rage washes over him. How dare Doom reduce Loki to this, his brain hisses. "He's just upstairs getting some food," he says putting a hand on Loki's arm because he's unsure what else to do.

Loki nods and swallows. "Is Allie okay?"

"She's fine," he says, sitting down in the chair Thor must have brought in.

Loki nods again and looks at Tony. "You-You should be with her," he says. "Just in case."

"Thor's up there, he won't let anything bad happen."

"And you-you'll stay here till h-he gets back, right?" Loki sounds very young, Loki sounds very scared. Tony closes his eyes because Gods, Loki sounds like Allie after she's had a nightmare, or last night when she told Steve not to let anyone take her.

"Yeah," Tony manages. "Yeah, I'll stay." And he takes Loki's hand. Loki grips it tightly and smiles again before he turns away and his eyes flutter shut.

In the end Loki tells them that Doom was planning to kidnap Allie to get Tony to destroy the other Avengers. It's laughable but then most all of Doom's plans are. Tony knows he wouldn't stand a chance against any of the other Avengers, except for maybe Bruce if he didn't hulk out. Steve and Thor were way too strong; Natasha and Clint were too fast, too clever. But still. He almost took Allie and Tony's not going to let him get away with that, none of them are.

Loki tells them where his base is and when Fury finds out they know he orders them to capture him, dead or alive. Tony likes to think that Fury hasn't said anything about Loki because he cares about Allie too but he knows it's only because by harbouring Loki he's breaking the council's rules.

Loki's recovered his strength enough that Tony knows it's safe to leave Allie with him and they head off for Doom's hideout. It's a messier fight then they'd anticipated and it ends with Steve breaking an ankle, Clint getting a concussion and Natasha getting shot in the arm but they manage to capture Doom and round up a few of his minions.

When they get back to the mansion Steve, Clint, Natasha and Bruce head to the med bay and Thor escorts Doom down to Fury and the holding cells bellow the mansion. Tony finds Allie and Loki sprawled across the couch in the TV room watching Ice Age. Tony still hasn't gotten used to Loki in normal clothes.

Allie's lying with her head on Loki's chest and Loki's running a hand through her dark hair absentmindedly. Neither of them have noticed him yet so he takes the opportunity to just watch them for a few minutes.

"Loki?" Allie says softly. "Are you a daddy?"

Loki's breath hitches and Tony can see his internal debate. "Yes," he says finally. "Yes, Alaya, I was."

Allie nods and then frowns, "How come you're not with them now?"

Loki's eyes go glassy and Tony's heart breaks a little. "They were taken from me." he says quietly. "I can't see them anymore, I'm not allowed."

"Oh," Allie says, oblivious to Loki's hurt. "Are they dead?"

"Some of them."

Allie scrunches her face up and looks at Loki, "That's sad, I'm sorry." Loki nods, tight lipped and Allie bits her lip, "You could be my daddy if you wanted. I mean I already have a daddy but most kids have two parents, you could be my other daddy."

She's watching him closely and Loki smiles weakly but his eyes are still shiny with tears. "I'd like that."

Allie grins and turns back to film. "I wish I had a mammoth." She says conversationally.

Loki swallows, "It'd be kind of hot here don't you think?" he says shakily and Allie nods, turns, spots Tony and grins.

"Daddy! Come watch with us!"

Tony sits down next to Loki and hesitantly puts his arm around the both of them. To his surprise Loki leans in to the touch. "Didja get the bad guy daddy?" Allie asks.

"Yep, he won't be bothering anyone for a while."

"Cool!" Allie crows and Tony laughs and pretends not to notice when Loki turns his head and buries his face in Tony's neck. He also pretends not to notice the god's shoulders shaking slightly or the dampness of Loki's tears. Instead he pulls the two closer and it feels right. It feels like it's always been that way.

"What happens now?" Loki asks. He's fully healed, Doom's been taken care of and they're standing in the 'mission room' with the other Avengers.

"You could come home with me, brother." Thor says hopefully.

Loki shakes his head, "You know what they'll do to me."

"Our father will not-"

"Your father, Thor. Yours, not mine," Loki snaps bitterly. "And even he won't be able to stop them."

"You know we can't let you go if you're just going to try and kill us all again?" Steve says. "I know you helped us this time but I'm not going to let you leave if you'll hurt more innocent people."

Loki swallows and Tony says, "You could stay here."

"And be an Avenger?" Loki scoffs.

"No," Tony says because fuck it, he's going to go for it and not just because of Loki's stupid perfect face and hands but because if Loki stays Allie will be happier.  
"I mean that'd be great and all but you could stay for us. For Allie and your brother and I know you and Bruce like talking about chemistry and physics and you and Natasha would just get on swimmingly and Steve's got this hero complex that saving you would satisfy and hell, Clint could use the target practise and..." he trails off because everyone is staring him. Bruce has this smug knowing grin on his face and Thor and Cap just look torn between confusion and hope and Loki's staring at him expectantly.

He cocks his head to the side like Thor does when he can't work out how to use the microwave, "Yes, and...?"

Fuck it.

Tony strides across the room and yanks Loki in to a rough kiss.

When they pull apart Loki smiles and his green eyes meet Tony's. "Okay, Stark. I'll stay." he says softly. Then he laughs, "But you might want to go lock yourself in your lab or something."

Tony blinks. "What?"

Loki nods at his brother who is wearing the same look of rage he wore when Loki was injured.

"Oh, crap."


End file.
